Chance me please for EA?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

Academic Interests:
Biochemistry
Spanish
Molecular and Cellular Biology

GPA: UW-3.95 W-4.51
Class Rank: Top 6.3% (45/710)
ACT: 31
Gender: Male
Race: Pacific Islander (Guam)
Ethnicity: Hispanic (Mexico)

Classes Taken:
Freshman-
-Honors Geometry
-Honors Chem/Phys (My school does 1 semester Chemistry, 1 Sem. Physics)
-Advanced Guitar
-Men’s Chorus
-Freshman English
-Spanish 1-2 (can’t be taken for honors)

Sophomore-
Honors Spanish 3-4
Honors Algebra 3-4
Honors Biology 1-2
Chamber Choir (Zero Hour)
Acapella Choir
Sophomore English
Business Management

Junior-
AP US History
Honors Finite/Brief Calculus
Honors Chemistry
Honors Chamber Choir
Honors Acapella Choir
Honors Spanish 5-6
Honors Junior English

Senior-
AP Statistics
AP Competition Government
AP Chem
AP Spanish Language
AP European History
Humanities

Activities:
Choir Council, Treasurer (9,10,11)
-Organized receipts utilizing Microsoft Excel and kept constant communication with choir director and students regarding debts.
Be A Leader Foundation (President/Founder) (11,12)
-Help guide low-income students on the path to college by providing free resources, leadership workshops, mentoring, and college application support.
Students Passing On Knowledge (SPOK) (10,11,12)
-Community service involvement. Attend weekly tutoring sessions at local middle schools, tutoring in subjects including math, science, and english.
Music For The Cure Club ( 9,10,11,12)
-Members perform at various genres of music at hospitals and senior living centers to bring joy and support to those in need
NHS (11,12)
Biotechnology (12)
-Hands on experience and official lab work with micropipetting, replicating DNA, separating macromolecules & fragmenting DNA using restriction enzymes.
Summer Programs (10,11,12)
-Applied and accepted into ASU Barrett Summer Scholars. National Student Leadership Conference: Medicine and Health Program at Northwestern University.
Voice & Piano Lessons (9,10,11)
-Attended weekly lessons. 1st Chair Bass Regional Honor Choir and 2nd Chair Bass All-State Show Choir
Competition Government (12)
-Juniors audition for senior year. Compete in mock congressional hearings on district, state, and national level. Fulfills AP Government credit.
In n Out Restaurant Associate (11,12)
-Order taking, janitorial services, and food slicing at In n Out Restaurant since the beginning of June 2016.

Essays:
Common App: Chose prompt 5 and wrote about how my best friend’s passing in July has transitioned me from childhood to adulthood
Supplements: Depends on school, but I wrote about music, why I want to go into Cardiothoracic surgery, the effects my job has had on me, and college-specific essays

Recommendation Letters:
Counselor: I’m guessing it’s really great because my counselor and I have an awesome relationship! I filled out her 9-Page rec letter sheet and she told me I “provided a great amount of information to write me an amazing rec letter”
Math Teacher: Let me read it before turning in. She wrote a very strong letter and mentioned that I chose her as my sponsor for the club I founded Junior year. She has watched me progress with my education and leadership skills through academics and within the club.
Chem/Bio Teacher: Let me read it before turning in. Wrote a very strong letter as well. Had her for two years.

Academic Achievements:
-Applied and accepted to The Fall Weekend Fly-In Program at Pomona College
-Applied and accepted to Diversity Open House Fly-In Program at Amherst College
-Applied and accepted to Diversity Overnight Fly-In Program at Hamilton College
-Applied and accepted to Multicultural Visit Fly-In Program at Oberlin College

2

Strong

3

31 ACT is good, but not outstanding. 3.95 gpa is very good.

On merit alone, I’d put your chances at about 50% with the brutal admissions competition currently applying.

That said…if your family is low income, or if you will be a first generation college grad…your chances improve tremendously. If you are in-state your chances are excellent.

The only weak spot I can see…if you want to be a thoracic surgeon, I would have liked to see AP Calculus and AP Biology. And Algebra 2. And Pre-Calc with Trig. (if your school doesn’t offer these, you’re safe…but if it does and you opted not to take them, that might concern admissions. Math is difficult and demanding at UMich…you need a very solid Math foundation with as much Calculus as you can get)

Physics beyond Freshman introductory Physics would have been nice, too.

In general, I wish there were more math and science classes in your transcript and fewer music classes. (not that there’s anything wrong with music)

Am glad to see AP Chem and AP Stats, though!

Best wishes and good luck. Let us know.

4

@MaryGJ I took “Honors Algebra 3-4/Trigonometry” my sophomore year and “Honors Finite/Brief-Calculus” my Junior year!

Algebra II at my school is Algebra 3-4/Trigonometry.

For Pre-Calc, my school only offers Pre-Calculus or Honors Finite/Brief-Calculus, which is the honors version of that:)

I had to choose between AP Chem or AP Bio for my senior year. My school has this weird policy where you need to complete all required honors courses before taking AP. Ex: Honors Chem/Phys Foundation, Honors Bio 1-2, Honor Chem or Bio 3-4, AND THEN AP Chem or AP Bio!

For Calculus, I admit that I just chose to go the easy route through statistics, but I hope it won’t put too much of a dent on my application.

For the music classes, wouldn’t they be happy to see that I stuck with one main activity throughout high school instead of being all academics? Because I’ve won awards within music too. And I emphasize music in my essays.

Thanks!

5

Thanks for the clarification on your maths, makes more sense.